Have You Ever Found Treasure In Kiloware?

Ummh... I don't think that a single $'s catalog value is worth mentioning. Even a catalog value of $ 25 relates to something like $ 10 in real life, sometimes a lot less. On top of that: stamps found in kiloware are rarely top notch. Some are crumpled, some have very poor cancels, some are even torn etc. So, even a $ 500 catalog value stamp may be worth next to nothing.

For my purposes, only very outstanding finds count as "treasure" in kiloware. But this sure happens - I found € 1000 (catalog value, real value about 1/3) worth of special fluorescent Heuss stamps (complete booklet on letter) in about € 20 worth of kiloware. There were other notable stamps in the same kiloware - quite a few €10-100 stamps of varying quality.

If $ 20 worth of kiloware contains about $ 100 or 200 cv worth of different stamps, well - that isn't a treasure in my eyes. Just my humble opinion.

Here is an example of nice items coming from a very cheap kiloware lot of definitives and franking labels. Note that they have the value setting of the previous series, which is incorrect. I would say to George P. that I have NEVER found such items in material purchased from Germany. These franking labels have no thins, tears, or creases. Michel does not price them, meaning that they appear too infrequently to give a value.

bookbndrbob, you are right. I was probably getting carried away by the monetary aspect - due to the posting right before mine.

I also find a lot of pleasure in finding stuff that isn't really high-$ value. For example, I like misprints of the kind not really valuable but strange in some ways. I also collect back numbers of coil stamps. Only a few of these are really precious in the sense of $ and Cents.

So - I fully agree: not only expensive finds may be rewarding.

OTOH, I don't really consider stuff a treasure, which isn't really rare, strange or just not normal.

Here are the best two items I've found in kiloware lately... the lady has an '8' penciled on her back, but I don't know if it's a plate number or not.

Where there is mystery, there's treasure.

Very nice.

Treasure is in the eye of the beholder, I am always excited when I can pick up stamps that I do not have. When I get multiples I have a few friends I make packets for and we just give them to each other. Treasure does not mean valuable. As most of us collect for fun, relaxation and for me stress relief from work. I can get lost with my stamps and think of the many places around the world.

Not even close to treasure, but a good stamp I just found in a very cheap German off-paper mixture. I'm now searching for its mate It sure does seem like treasure hunting when sorting mixtures and "finds" no matter what are great fun.



And I agree with the previous poster, "playing" with stamps is the best way to relax.

I used to get a lot of Germany in the Harris packets. I still pick up the Harris plastic bag with 40 percent off from Hobby lobby. Get slot of doubles but it is fun.

Best I ever found was some 1 & 2 cent Columbians -used and some nice low dollar revenues. Most USA is mainly definigives. Willy' s stamps sells USPS boxes for 16 dollars ppd it costs him ten bucks to ship it is about 5lbs on paper close cut.

Curiosity question-

Every week in Linn's there are dozens of ads offering small amounts of kiloware for a few bucks. In addition, each week a reviewer provides feedback on the results of answering one of these ads.

What is the objective of these sellers - in addition to filling the immediate order, do they start sending price lists or approvals or more generic marketing pitches to people who have responded to their ads? Has anyone ever responded to these ads and, if so, what was your objective as a buyer and what did the sellers do, if anything, as follow-up after filling your order?

I buy small lots advertised in Linn's all the time - probably a couple a week on average. To me, buying a cheap packet of stamps is like crack - a cheap, quick "hit" of stamp collecting. It's my preferred method of buying stamps for the "non-serious" part of my collection (i.e. everything but the German Area). I feel like a kid at Christmas every time I get a packet of stamps in the mail, and sorting them out and seeing what I got is a highlight of my day.

Most of the sellers are part-time dealers or collectors disposing of duplicates and unwanted stamps. I've bought hundreds of packets from the Linn's classifieds over the last few years and I've only been disappointed a couple times. The vast majority of the time, you get your stamps and that's that. Once in awhile a dealer sends along a price list or an offer of approvals, but that's the exception rather than the rule. I've only gotten follow up mailings from sellers maybe two or three times out of the hundreds of packets and dozens of sellers I've bought from. I nearly always get my money's worth, which considering the 2-5 cents or so per stamp, that's pretty easy to do. And sometimes the values are astounding. I've purchased $3-$5 packets more than once that were filled with $5+ stamps with a total CV north of $200, although that's not the norm. I've had much better luck buying stamp packets from sellers in Linn's than on eBay.

Thanks for the feedback, Artful. I had also been thinking of responding to some of the foreign/worldwide ads just for the fun of receiving the packets and seeing what interesting stamps they contain, since my serious collecting is primarily U.S. along with just a few other small countries. Maybe some of the more fascinating items would serve as catalysts to start dabbling in some new collecting area or country. I've been curious whether the sellers were mainly just collectors making one-off offers on duplicates/unwanteds, as you noted, or whether some of them are dealers trying to make a connection to build a relationship over time.

I'd say go for it, Oracle. There's really nothing to lose, other than a few dollars or so. If you're thinking of branching out into other areas, starting off with cheap packets is probably the best way to go, since you can get a wide variety of stamps for next to nothing on a per-stamp basis. Keep in mind that most of the stamps in the off-paper mixes generally won't contain many newer (post-2000 or so) stamps. If you are interested in newer issues, you'll probably want to look at on-paper mixes.

There is +always+ treasure in kiloware. But it takes patience, perseverance and a good magnifier. I once sorted several thousand Canada calla lilies .....not looking for anything special - and found an incredible range of colour printing s and shade variations. I could have specialized on that issue alone and been a happy stamper.